


Who Is In Control?

by catkid25



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Canon Compliant, Eventual Relationships, Fluff and Angst, God of Control!Akira, M/M, Persona 5 Spoilers, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, Pining, Royal New Game +, Slow Burn, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, like seriously even the description has spoilers you've been warned, until we get to a point where I can reasonably throw canon out the window
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:13:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28829454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catkid25/pseuds/catkid25
Summary: At Maruki's defeat at the hands of Joker, a power void has been created that once more needs to be filled.A simple wish leaves Joker in a new reality free from the games played by gods, and back to when he first had any influence over his own reality along with the newfound ability to affect change.Basically another Royal new game+ time travel fix-it fic with some added twists!
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 10
Kudos: 67





	1. This is the decision that I have made

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhh is finally here! This fic is what, two years in the making? I started making this around when I finished persona 5 and had feelings about what Atlus could have done to improve the story, then held out another year when Royal was announced shortly after and held off actually writing until the English release. I've now been waiting a solid year now for the person who got me into Persona 5 to begin with to play Royal so I can gush about it with them, but I got tired of waiting, so now I get to subject you guys to my thoughts! I'm hoping to keep a semi-consistent update schedule of every two weeks at best and every month at the worst! 
> 
> Fic title comes from Control by Halsey and Chapter title comes from Twin Sized Mattress by the Front Bottoms!

As Maruki's palace crumbles down around them, Akira looks around at the exhausted faces of his friends, cramped as they are inside the monacopter, and his heart aches deep within his chest as he openly stares at Akechi's form, knees pulled to his chest and teeth gritted as his eyes are cast resolutely out of the window, clearly attempting to make himself seem as small as possible. Akira can't help but to grab the seat in front of him with a white knuckled grip as he wished dizzily, desperately beyond hope, that they could just start over again without any sort of godly figure looming overhead to force decisions upon them. All he desired was for Akechi and himself to be able to choose their fate of their own free will. After everything that Yaldabaoth put them through, and Maruki offered, Akechi's own words echoed in the back of his mind. 

"I wish we could have met sooner."

Didn't they deserve as much?

* * *

Deep within him, the world card spins rapidly, glossing over a deep royal blue from the center and spreading like tendrils outwards.

* * *

"Ladies and Gentlemen thank you for riding with us today. We will be arriving in Shibuya shortly. This is the last stop for this line."

Akira flutters his eyes open at the announcement and feels the gentle rumble of the train underneath him. Had Maruki's palace spat him out on the subway station? If that was the case, then where were all the other phantom thieves? He feels a sudden stab of confusion worm its way into his chest as a quick glance around revealed the train pedestrians no longer wearing their winter attire, and that confusion quickly turns to panic once he overhears one of the girls nearby mention the mental shutdown cases. 

He clutches his phone in a death grip, palm pressing hard against his diamond plate steel phone case in a way he dimly thinks will probably leave an imprint later. A quick swipe of his thumb makes something swoop low within him, and he suddenly becomes queasy at the accusing 4/9 blinking at him once he checks the date. 

Was this another god once more making a power grab? Maruki hadn't changed the date before, he had only manifested their desires into a dream world in the present to account for them. So who, or what, was powerful enough to bend the entire fabric of time to their will, and why this specific date?

Akira's head throbbed with possibilities as he pushed past pedestrians the moment the doors opened with a pleasant chime, ignoring the noises of protest he left in his wake. He nearly bursts into a full out sprint in his haste to reach the closest Mementos door next to Untouchable in order to demand an explanation from Igor and Lavenza, only to collapse panting with his hands on his knees in the middle of Shibuya Crossing. A not so subtle reminder that his body from a year ago clearly didn't retain the stamina buildup he's accumulated by infiltrating palaces over the year. 

It's here that his phone pings within his tight grip and the sight of the now familiar red eye momentarily erases any fatigue he feels and replaces it with panic. Akira's eyes widen behind his unassuming frames, and with a shaking breath he presses a single index finger against the smooth glass screen. 

The pedestrians around him slow to a stop, the normal bustle of sound that is Shibuya crossing fading into a quiet oblivion as he stares around openly at the now still forms surrounding him, mouth parted gently in confusion. The echo of his memories from a year prior ring through his mind as he scans across the crowd. His attention was snatched from what looked to be a fellow Shujin student a year under him, to the sudden whoosh of flames nearby. 

Large familiar blue flames had appeared in the middle of the crossing, just like they had a year prior, and Akira was sprinting towards the flames licking the still air before his brain could fully process what he was seeing.

"Arsené!" He called, and glowing yellow eyes flickered open within the flames, soon to be accompanied by a mouth grinning ghoulishly at him. The face within quickly morphs into his own reflection as Joker complete with glowing yellow eyes and Akira halts to a stop at this new development, just short of the sight until it quickly evaporates into nothing. 

The noise around him filters back in suddenly, and the crowd parts like water around him, no one seeming to notice the change. 

Akira joins the last stragglers making their way through the crossing, head still reeling from that encounter. Was that Arsené? Why did it have his face, and Joker's outfit, and why were its eyes yellow like a shadow? The questions scramble over themselves within his mind, while he aimlessly lets his feet carry him. 

It's only when the familiar streets of Yongen-Jaya greet his eyes as he looks up, that he realizes his body was trying to autopilot him into the sanctuary of LeBlanc.

It's just as well that his feet had taken him there, as Sojiro was likely waiting for him, although Akira swallows thickly at the thought of having to once more deal with Sojiro's harsh words and judgment until the older man could get to know him. Hopefully he can avoid Sojiro requesting for him to make coffee or curry for the foreseeable future, as Akira silently doubts that even Sojiro won't be able to go without questioning how he can make Wakaba's specialty curry recipe as easy as breathing. His level at competency when it came to coffee before Sojiro, came to a head somewhere around being able to turn on a Keurig, and he sincerely questions he can replicate that level of inadequacy when the inevitable time comes. Helping Sojiro run LeBlanc for the better part of a year as ingrained the movements into muscle memory. 

The journey to LeBlanc this time is bittersweet, even if Akira can't help but shy away from the cop patrolling the area. Old habits die hard after all, and he's been at the attention of Tokyo's police enough for one lifetime. He steps foot inside the Café just in time to hear a tabloid show host cry outrage over a mental shutdown case. The noise masks the ring of the bell above the door, all while Sojiro ignores both the television and the conversation it sparks with an elderly couple, in favor of doing this week's crossword. The strong scent of coffee leaves Akira feeling oddly nostalgic, and his hands already itch to complete the crossword for Sojiro, given the man possessed the unfortunate habit of leaving the last few answers blank. He confronted Sojiro about it once, who mumbled something about leaving some for later, before smoothly changing the topic. 

"Oh right, they did say that was today." Sojiro states impassively once he noticed the teenager standing awkwardly in front of his door, placing the crossword back up on the bar. 

Akira steps back slightly at Sojiro's callous and disinterested attitude towards him, the memory of this event within his mind leaving him far less prepared to deal with it a second time. He pays little mind towards the elderly customers leaving as he pulls himself back together, posture already defensive. This isn't the Sojiro Sakura he's spent a year with, he reminds himself, unless he can figure out a way out of this situation and soon, he was going to have to win back his trust. 

"So you're Akira Kurusu?" Sakura asks, causing Akira to passively nod his head in response as Sojiro redundantly introduces himself once more. Akira faintly registers the words, follow me, before he's being led up the stairs, already instinctually stepping around the third stair that squeaks on the way up, but never down. This place holds so many memories that it's going to be incredibly difficult to feign ignorance. 

He's shocked once more as his room is revealed to him, cluttered yet again instead of filled with the miscellaneous items and memories he knew it- once held? Will hold? His head is still swimming at the concept. 

"You look like you want to say something." Sojiro asks, eyes level with his.

"It's big." Akira stutters out as an excuse, half listening to the rest of Sojiro's words until he hears the phrase that makes his heart sink despite his best efforts.

"You'll be alone at night, but don't do anything stupid. I'll throw you out if you cause any trouble." 

Akira looks away at those words, sure that while the Sojiro he's known for over a year wouldn't even throw him out when he was an internationally wanted criminal, this Sojiro to whom he's a complete stranger, likely wasn't kidding. It stings worse the second time, as Sojiro lectures him to stay out of other people's business, a lecture that he'd dutifully ignored. 

Akira involuntarily takes a sharp intake of breath at the words, "-which your parents also approved. In other words, they got rid of you for being a pain in the ass." 

He blatantly refuses to think about that particular subject. The regret and shame, mixed with a hint of glee at finally having an excuse to be rid of him, within his step-mother's expression when she was forced to pick him up from the police station still appears fresh in his mind even now. He looks down at the dusty shelf instead and fakes a sudden interest at its contents. 

Sojiro mercifully leaves Akira to his own thoughts after informing him that they'll be heading to Shujin Academy first thing in the morning, a memory that if Akira remembers properly he'd rather not relive. Truthfully he'd rather not relive any of these early days at all, the only small bits of relief he was able to grasp had been with Ryuji and Ann, and given the date, they're likely still dealing with Kamoshida. 

He drops the tension from his shoulders as soon as Sojiro he hears the last stair creak with sigh, and reaches for his cleaning supplies. He spends the rest of the evening cleaning his former room once more, placing his items where he normally keeps them in his (past? future?) life. At least given his knowledge from the future he can recognize the complicated texts on his bookshelf to be Wakaba Isshiki's and sets them aside to hand to Futaba later instead of discarding them as he had done originally. 

Futaba.

The name makes him pause and bite his lip in thought. At this point in time she would still be senselessly blaming herself for her mother's death. He'd prefer to rescue her from her own mental torture earlier this time around if possible, but given she had approached the phantom thieves herself last time, he lacks an avenue of approach short of knocking on her door and requesting he steal her heart. 

He startles a little when Sojiro comes up behind him, the man expressing his clear surprise that he was cleaning. Akira feels a bitter spike of anger at that, already increasingly tired at how everyone continuously treated him by reputation alone. He had already lived with the stigma for nearly a year, and was increasingly growing to despise the idea of attending class tomorrow with so many judgmental eyes resting upon him. Once was enough, but twice was fate simply being cruel. 

"I won't be the one looking after you if you get sick from staying up too late, you got that?" Akira tunes back to Sojiro's words and suppresses a sudden snort, remembering all too well how Sojiro left warm soup waiting upstairs for him after he had fallen ill

while studying for midterms, as well as how the man constantly refilled the fuel for the heater in his room while the world assumed he was dead.

* * *

Sojiro ultimately finally leaves for the night, urging him to bed himself, and Akira reluctantly pulls himself away from his newly half cleaned room to change into more comfortable sleep clothes. He lays in his newly cleaned bed, head far too busy buzzing with thoughts to be able to sleep. 

Is this Maruki's world? It doesn't hold the dreamlike quality or thin buzz of forced happiness that was present throughout, but if it wasn't, what being is powerful enough to entirely reset the timeline? Even Maruki had only settled for simply bringing his cognition into reality within the realm of present day. Was that simply because of a lack of imagination and he's attempting now to once more tempt him, even after he had admitted defeat?

He rolls over with a sigh, hand absently grasping emptily to stroke a Morgana that he realizes with a jolt is no longer with him. Was he running around somewhere with his new human body? Akira bites his lip and pulls up his phone with a sigh, the light from it illuminating his face as he glares down the calendar app. Does Morgana even remember them at all? Is he once more the only phantom thief aware within this new reality? The only one except-

Akechi. 

The idea of the name alone makes him shift uncomfortably on his bed, idly considering the reasons why Akechi hasn't contacted him outright like last time. Was this partially provoked by Shido? Is the man still around in this new timeline? A quick internet search on his phone returns back that yes, Masayoshi Shido has a promising new career as a politician, but strangely doesn't include the results of any type of arrest. It was.... odd, given that this is likely Maruki's perfect world. Maybe he only wanted to keep the inciting event that brought him to Tokyo? Although by that logic, it still wouldn't account for the continued mental shutdown cases. 

Akira drops his phone onto his chest, head beginning to pound uncontrollably at the mountain of questions all demanding answers that pound at the edges of his mind. Closing his eyes, he waits for sleep to overcome him, hoping that the velvet room's occupants might have answers for him.

* * *

When he finally does manage to sleep, the cool blue of the velvet room meets his eyes as they open once more, the velvet room aria playing softly within the depths of his mind. He slowly begins to sit up, taking in his surroundings with some amount of confusion as he notices that while he was back to wearing his prison outfit once more, the normal chains that bound him to go along with it are now noticeably absent, leaving him feeling freer. He rubs absently at his wrist and glances at where the thick padlock door of his cell normally resides, instead of the thick chains that normally held him prisoner, he's instead greeted by the sight of it hanging open to reveal Lavenza's unblinking gaze.

"My trickster," she sighs, a hint of melancholy lacing through her words, "it seems as if the hands of fate have dealt you a new card once more."

Akira opens his mouth to respond before thinking better and closing it, looking rapidly from her smaller form looming over him from his position sitting on the bed, towards where Igor sits behind his thick wooden desk with his hands clasped together, looking rather thoughtful. Akira finally gets to his feet, suddenly awkward at what to do with his newly freed hands given he has no pockets to place them in, and approaches Igor's desk with trepidation, half-fearing he'll hear Yaldabaoth's lower tones from the being's mouth. 

"Interesting. Very interesting." He says from beyond folded hands, and Akira can only release a breath he never realized he was holding at the higher pitch. 

"Can either one of you explain what's happening? How did Maruki manage to force his reality a second time? I thought that once we won against him, the power would have been returned to us." Akira's words edge on desperate, voice cracking unexpectedly at the end. 

Lavenza's eyes seem determined for him to find something within them as they shine at him like floodlamps. Her attempts are in vain however, as the velvet room's occupants remain as unreadable to him as ever. 

"Trickster..." She attempts eventually, clearly uncomfortable, "Surely you understand that these cards have been dealt by your own hand. You seem to understand the terms of the game after all."

Akira grits his teeth in a sudden burst of irritation, unsure of why he ever thought he could get a straight answer from the velvet room occupants given past experience. After the year he's experienced, he's become extremely tired of having to figure out their constant riddles on his own. All he wants is for someone to explain the situation to him as if he were a child so he could already be able to dedicate resources towards fixing this mess. At least they weren't also acting as though they had never seen him before like the rest of the world, that was a start at least. 

"What Lady Lavenza means, is that Maruki didn't do this, you did!" Yowls a voice in the corner, causing Akira's head to snap unexpectedly to where Morgana stands behind the bars of one of the cells, rattling the bars angrily. 

"Morgana?" He asks, absently rubbing his now sore neck.

"Of course it's me! Now hurry up and get me out of this bastard's prison, it was humiliating enough the first time!" 

Akira blinks and it takes him a moment to understand before he asks, "Wait, you're trapped in Kamoshida's palace?" 

"Did restarting the universe somehow reset your brain as well? Of course I am! It's where you and Ryuji found me the first time isn't it?" Morgana snaps, hopping up and down angrily from within his cell. 

"Wait, what do you mean I restarted the universe, what are you talking about?" Akira asks, his brain had finally finished processing the first statement, "The last thing I remember was escaping Maruki's palace before waking up earlier on the train to Shibuya. What's going on? I'm so lost..." Akira trails off, earnestly looking towards his cat, who seemed like the only one willing to give him a straight answer, unsurprising given Morgana's usual bluntness. 

Morgana huffs and folds his arms over one another as Igor chuckles softly behind them.

"You mean you really don't know?" Morgana asks cautiously, blue eyes peering up at him in curiosity. 

"You defeated Maruki, so you won back the powers of the world card. You've obviously figured out that much on your own. With the false God, you were working as a team, so that the power transferred to all of you, and then ultimately into Maruki right? Well, you put an end to Maruki personally this time, given your little slap fest at the end there, so now all that power's returned to only you this time." Morgana looks away after his explanation, looking as uncomfortable as Lavenza. "I have no idea how or what you did, but I can say for certain that whatever happened was completely your doing this time."

Akira frowns, head coming to rest on the cold bars of Morgana's cell as he says, "I still don't know how this happened. I never wanted any of this, I just wanted-" The realization makes him stop, hands finally finding a purpose as they come up to clutch the bars in horror. 

This was his fault, wasn't it? Initially all he wanted was for humanity to be able to make its own choices, but now... Now he's overrode that into his own wish to start over. No wonder he woke up on the train to Shibuya, he didn't regret his decision to go against Shido, only his actions afterwards. That's-

"It seems like you finally understand." 

Igor grins at him beneath folded hands and says, "You finally understand the hand of fate you dealt yourself. We will speak again trickster, have no doubt, as for now I suggest you explore the bounds of your new self imposed reality."

_Wait-_

Is what Akira wants to shout, but the words catch in his throat, his hand freezing in its attempted movement of stretching out towards Igor's desk, before the entire room becomes quickly engulfed in total darkness. 


	2. The warning signs I've completely ignored

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira gets taken to meet his new principal and teacher and comes away with a newfound resolve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As before: fic name comes from Control by Halsey and chapter name comes from Twin Sized Mattress by The Front Bottoms.

Akira sits awake with a jolt, hand unconsciously reaching out to mimic his final actions within the velvet room before he pulls it back, heart racing. The sun filters in through the attic windows, illuminating the dust motes that float slowly around the room before settling down on the layers of dust he hasn't cleaned yet. Judging by the orange light filtering thrift the dusty glass, it was now morning, so Sojiro would be by soon to escort him to his introduction to Principal Kobayakawa at Shujin.

Joy.

He begins getting dressed for the day, eager to form a somewhat good impression with Sojiro, before frowning. He hadn't been forced to confront Kobayakawa since the man's death at the end of August, so it'll be strange to be looking into the eyes of someone he knows for sure was dead within the other timeline. Akechi's case had been somewhat of extenuating circumstances given the nature of his death.

The thought of Akechi makes Akira pause in the middle of pulling his arms through his sleeves. If Akechi is still perpetuating the mental shutdown cases, does that mean Kobayakawa's death would still be slated for August? Would changing the man's heart improve, or hinder his situation given he had to have been entwined with Shido's conspiracy enough to earn a target on his back. Or, a part of him viciously thinks, should he just let history play out as intended given the man's reprehensible behavior of neglecting his students?

Shaking himself out of the thought, Akira frowns deeper and chews on the corner of his lips.

No.

Akechi has enough blood on his hands to begin with. Letting him continue his metaverse activities uninhibited until August would be a catastrophic failure on his part. He wasn't entirely sure of Akechi's own thought process on continuing the mental shutdowns, but Akira needs to put an end to it soon as well as offer Akechi a better alternative. And if he refuses.... Akira swallows thickly at the thought.

He's startled out of his thoughts by Sojiro's head peeking upstairs with a firm order to finish getting dressed, and Akira pulls his arms the rest of the way through his sleeves. He cards a hand through his hair, already regretting that he hadn't woken up earlier and now he needed to sacrifice brushing his teeth to not suffer Sojiro's potential wrath by making him wait.

Wait- Sojiro wouldn't allow him to roam around at night yet, so he couldn't even bathe reliably. Akira bites down the urge to grumble irritably while he begins his descent down the stairs, already resigning himself back to the early days of either snatching a quick shower in Shujin's locker rooms, or waiting patiently for his bathing bucket to fill to the brim in Leblanc's tiny bathroom.

It wasn't as if he blamed Sojiro for the situation, after all, he never exactly brought it to light when it happened the first time, far too caught up with not making himself seem like any more trouble. He dealt with it the first time just fine, waiting the week or so it would take Sojiro to allow him to go out to the bathhouse at night wouldn't hurt him.

Akira flashes Sojiro a small, grateful smile once he reaches the bottom of the stairs that makes the older man frown in suspicion. Well, he was hoping to move towards the avenue of trust faster this time, but given Sojiro seems dead set on assuming the worst of him, it seems as though this might take a while.

Sojiro shakes his head and scoops up his keys from the smooth wooden bar behind them, before walking off towards where Akira knew he had his car parked without saying a word, assuming he would follow behind.

* * *

Carefully arranging himself in the passenger's seat, Akira silently muses on why Sojiro owned a car in the first place given he lived within walking distance of Leblanc. Not that he was complaining of course, after all, it came in handy in rare situations like these. He finally concludes that the car was likely from his governmental work days where he worked with Shido and Wakaba. For what purpose? Akira's not sure and is ultimately afraid to find out, unwilling to taint his memory of Sojiro within his mind.

Working with Shido in the past... It felt a little too much of a coincidence that the person overseeing his parole was also a former employee of the one who necessitated it. He's fully aware that it was likely the result of Yaldabaoth's subtle manipulations over his reality, yet the question still lingered.

Akira spares a careful side-glance over towards Sojiro as they drove, privately thankful that the man was too busy grumbling about traffic to notice. Had Sojiro's throwaway comment earlier about only taking him in because one of his customers knew his parents been a lie? It was unlikely that one of the regulars whose faces he had memorized would have known his parents and failed to comment on it at least once when they saw him. He bitterly thinks that it wasn't as if his parents were exactly around to ask.

Could it have been the work of Shido? He dismisses the thought as soon as it pops up, Sojiro's clear disdain of the man making it unlikely he would willingly participate in Shido's schemes.

How stepmother? He nearly outright snorts the idea was so absurd, only to turn the motion into a deep exhale that made Sojiro glance at him in concern out of the corner of his eye. His stepmother was all too happy to have a legitimate excuse to be rid of him, and he sincerely doubts that she would suddenly have such a drastic change of heart. Besides, Sojiro had mentioned parents, so that means-

Frowning, Akira fixes his gaze at the road, looking down at asphalt occasionally glinting in the lights of Tokyo's neon signs that slowly blink out one by one in the morning sunlight before asking the question weighing on his mind.

"I know you said one of the regulars knew my parents, would it be much trouble if I asked which one?"

A customer knowing his parents was something that Akira had only noticed in passing the first time, too busy adjusting to his new accommodations in order to give the statement the gravity it deserved. Now he's become laser focused.

Sojiro's eyebrows shoot up, clearly not expecting the question. He at first hums noncommittally, before answering, "You know that older couple from yesterday? Apparently the woman used to babysit your mother when she was younger. I'm surprised you didn't know already since she was pretty upset at the news of your arrest. She pleaded with me to take you in, but I only did it because your case reminded me of-"

Stopping mid-sentence, Sojiro grips his steering wheel a little tighter.

"Anyways," he continues, clearly trying to smooth past his slip up, "we're almost to the school now."

Akira could only nod in response, attempting to process the new information he had just learned. It served as unneeded confirmation in his mind that Sojiro had only taken him in because the man was reminded of Futaba's own situation, but the new information about his mother was shocking to say the least. He had expected some office worker to have known his father in passing, but for this woman to have known his mother?

He adds a quick note to his journal to keep an eye out for the elderly couple at Leblanc.

Eyes downcast, Akira follows Sojiro as they park and make their way to the principal's office within Shujin. Sojiro occasionally looks back at him in concern, likely due to his silence after his unprompted question, but Akira ignores it, gaze firmly set on the familiar linoleum tiles of the hallways. How long had these tiles become a welcoming sight after the rumor of his delinquency had spread? It had to be nearing a little over a year since he stood in these halls for the first time, confused, alone, and angry at his circumstances.

Nothing has changed, Akira thinks as they climb the steps to the second floor, and yet ultimately everything has. He'll still meet Ryuji and Ann tomorrow for the not so first time and Kobiakawa will still look the other way at the student's abuse. The only thing that's truly changed was himself. Akira stands obediently in front of the principal's office as he waits for Sojiro and questions with a tinge of regret if his friends will recognize him at all. He's not sure which option he prefers.

* * *

"To reiterate, just so we're clear, you will immediately be expelled if you cause any problems." Akira barely has the energy to resist rolling his eyes at the statement, instead focusing on looking Kobayakawa in the eyes with a blank expression on his face. After everything with Kamoshida, he could easily blackmail the entire school into keeping him on if needed. It's only when the principal diverts his attention to Kawakami standing next to him that Akira's eyes change imperceptibly behind his glasses.

Kawakami... At this point in time she's still being blackmailed by her student's family. As much as he wants to help her, if he really is now the God of control, shouldn't he let her make her own choice in the matter? It wasn't as if she had asked for his help the first time, his own sense of morals had driven him into meddling into her affairs.

If Maruki had served to teach him anything, it was that deciding you knew best for others was never a good idea. Kawakami should be given the choice to decide for herself, he shouldn't be manipulating with the world to suit his whims.

Akira averts his eyes for the rest of the interaction, guilt clawing a hole into his chest at every glance in Kawakami's direction. He leaves as quietly as he came in with Sojiro, hoping that he could just be driven back to Leblanc and think through his strategy for tomorrow in peace. That idea is soon interrupted by Sojiro's sigh as they near the front of the building.

"Everyone's giving you the cold shoulder." Sojiro says as they turn to leave the school, "That's what having a criminal record does to you."

Akira nearly sighs at the words in return. It's nothing he doesn't already know and hasn't already lived through. He's intimately aware of the stigma set to follow him throughout his entire life, even if his record was cleaned.

He couldn't deny the fact that he could technically change his own fate, as well as the fate of others, if he only pursued his newfound powers of control, but he dismisses the thought when it emerges. If he doesn't even know the consequences of his current actions of resetting the timeline and what roll they've played on the world, there was no possible chance that he would ever play with fate when he didn't even know the outcome. Any active decision on his part would be him choosing for others, and there was a very slippery slope into becoming like Maruki if he tried to use his powers at all, especially for such selfish reasons.

No, it's better to try and let fate play out as it would have before Yaldabaoth intervened. He was done playing with fate.

* * *

The drive home was relatively silent, broken only by Sojiro's low grumblings about traffic while the headlights of the cars around them flickered on in the fading afternoon sun. Despite his plans for silent reflection, the monotony of the moment prods Akira into asking:

"So why did you take me in?"

It wasn't a question that Sojiro hadn't all but outright answered earlier, but Akira was curious of how he would dance around the issue this time.

"I- I just happened to agree to it is all." Sojiro responds gruffly, quickly becoming flustered fingers tapping impatiently on the steering wheel, "Besides, I've already been paid for it too, after all. "

Looking away, Akira forces down a smile at the words. Sojiro might try and claim it was for the money, but Akira's fairly certain that Futaba likely just obtained a couple more figurines she'd been eyeing after the sudden influx of cash. Either that, or a PC part she had been begging for that she had seen in Akihabara-

Wait. Akira wrinkles his nose. Futaba wouldn't be out and about gushing about her latest obsession because she's currently wracked with misplaced guilt over her mother's death.

If he doesn't become a phantom thief, how would Futaba ever know to approach him to change her situation?

This was proving to be trickier to navigate than he thought. Was he supposed to knock on her door at Sojiro's house and say, "Hello. I know we haven't met, but I'm the delinquent your dad picked up, and oh, by the way, I can also help you become less depressed over your mother's death by going into a cognitive version of your mind that's shaped like a pyramid and letting you confront the fact that your mother actually loved you the whole time. All you need to do is agree to it."

She'd laugh him out of the room. That or have Sojiro call the police on him for real this time. There had to be an angle of approach he wasn't even considering yet.

The radio switching from music to a breaking news broadcast interrupts his thoughts. The news of a subway train derailing makes Akira's heart lurch in his chest as he sits up straighter in the leather seats of Sojiro's car, eyes going wide.

No, he could have prevented this- He should have-

Sojiro hums beside him in thought, eyes never leaving the road.

"Another accident? So that's why it's so crowded. There's been a lot of those lately. There was a real sad one just last month. It happened before you came here. If I remember right, the girl that passed away was only fifteen." Sojiro informs him, solemnly tilting his head down in thought.

Kasumi and Sumire.

Blinking rapidly for a moment, Akira's thoughts race as he questions whether that situation was Akechi's doing as well. It takes a few embarrassingly long moments before he remembers the video of Sumire's memories of the event within Maruki's palace and calms down. There was no possible way for Akechi to have been involved. It had been a genuine accident, not an orchestrated one, that much was obvious from his memory.

A sudden stab of guilt makes its way through Akira's body at the misplaced blame. Not every accident was caused by Akechi working through Shido, he stubbornly reminds himself. If anything, this incident serves as a good excuse to justify one of his first actions as tracking down Akechi and figuring out if he has any memories from before. If he could remember even through Maruki's events, it was likely that he holds his memories even now.

There was no telling why the boy would still be working with Shido still with the full knowledge that Shido planned on eliminating him after, but Akira realizes with a pang of loss that even after a year, he still couldn't fully understand or explain Akechi's actions.

When Sojiro presents to him the diary he used to keep track of the year once they arrive back at Leblanc, Akira's eyes widen at all the memories this little book held for him. The diary was obviously empty once more, and Akira silently mourns its previous state of worn corners with little doodles of the day's weather in the top corner as well as the faint smell of coffee that clung to it. The pages now were blank, no longer filled with his scrap math of budgeting at Untouchable or the names of various requests for changes of heart down in Mementos, only expectant white space for him to fill in with how the day was going to unfold. In retrospect, it was a good thing that Sojiro had never asked to read his diary, the contents would have identified him as a phantom thief from a mile away.

"Talk about a gruesome accident..." The man in question says while looking down at his phone screen, "Eighty people were involved."

The number nearly leaves Akira staggered. Eighty people. Eighty people had been involved in an accident that he could have prevented.

Sojiro takes a phone call and mutters into the line that he'll see the person soon, placing the call as likely from Futaba, before spinning back around to face Akira.

"Don't mess up my store. If something goes missing, I'll hand you right over to the cops." Sojiro informs him with a scowl, grey eyes hardened behind his glasses in a way that makes Akira internally curl up.

So much for trying to maintain a good first impression.

After the man's departure, Akira picks up his diary and hastily scrawls an 80 within the 4/10 box. All he could do for now was hope that the number would never grow any higher. Eighty people were now injured or worse because of his negligence in stopping Akechi, and the number would only increase if he just stood by and did nothing.

The old-fashioned yellow payphone ringing downstairs pierces through the calm silence that had settled in on LeBlanc for the night. Akira raises an eyebrow in surprise as he heads downstairs to answer it. Normally the only time the phone was used this late at night was to call Kawakami over to do various chores for him, so Akira was understandably surprised to hear Sojiro's gruff voice at the end of the line asking him to flip Leblanc's sign closed for the night.

He looks over towards the sign in question with a bit of nostalgia as he agrees. He's come in enough times after an afternoon excursion to flip the sign closed by habit, Sojiro must have let him in the door first for him to not flip it by memory.

After the call ends and he had flipped the sign to closed, Akira steps back into Leblanc, eyes settling on the muted TV over by the wall broadcasting coverage of the accident and tries to figure out how to deal with his current situation. He no longer had Akechi's number saved on his phone to be able to text him and request a meeting. And back in the first timeline, he didn't meet Akechi until- Akira scrunches up his nose, doing the mental math in his head.

June. Right after their successful heist of Kamoshida's heart.

He remembers now mostly because the new summer humidity had left Ryuji and himself hot and sticky with sweat after they were used as forced labor at the TV studio. The entire thing put a damper on their moods right after the elation of Kamoshida's confession. Akechi would have been furious on his behalf if he knew, Akira muses while making his way up the staircase for the night. Either furious at the studio for their use of guests as unpaid labor, or amused that he had agreed to it, with his eyes crinkling up in that self-satisfied way they always did when Akechi gave him one of his real smiles. Even after all this time, it was still increasingly hard to guess Akechi's reaction to things.

* * *

Akira sneezes as he steps foot into the only half-clean cluttered and dirty attic, and looks accusingly at the dust motes floating softly throughout the room. There were still cobwebs draped over every service, a thick coating of dust on the floor, as well as junk littering the room from where Sojiro had obviously just been using the attic as a storage space, likely for Wakaba's items he couldn't bear to part with if the advanced cognitive psience books on the shelves that he had set aside for Futaba were any indication. He'll have to finish cleaning soon before Morgana could complain about the state of things. If he were to meet Ann and Ryuji for the not-so-first time tomorrow, then he would also meet Morgana who seems to be the only one to have any sort of idea what was going on in this new timeline.

Changing into his night clothes, Akira lays back onto his bed with a sigh, pressing the back of his hand to his face. Tomorrow was the first day of school, as well as the first day he and Ryuji had entered the metaverse. Should he alter fate for the first time by not allowing them to enter Kamoshida's palace? It stands to reason that if Ryuji doesn't remember, like he's beginning to increasingly suspect, all allowing them to enter Kamoshida's palace would do would be to provoke questions that he wasn't sure he'd be able to provide a satisfying answer to. Questions like as to why he had suddenly changed clothes in the middle of the street, or 

A sudden yawn cuts through his thought process and he abandons the thought for now. What happens tomorrow would happen, and he needs rest if he was going to be able to face Shujin's students whispering about the deplorable deeds he's supposedly done, half day because of entering the metaverse or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I'm not the biggest fan of this chapter and I'll likely come back to smooth out bits later! Sorry this chapter isn't exactly action packed, it's more for laying out groundwork! Ahaha it's totally not me churning out nearly 4K words out of a day that lasts for like two minutes of gameplay. Next chapter we get into the meat of things and get into real canon divergence hours. Sidenote: This fic is entirely my own self-indulgence so I'm glad you guys seem to really like it! We're like roughly three chapters out from confidants or so but that hasn't stopped me from having a field day rewriting them. See you guys in two weeks!

**Author's Note:**

> I already have 5,000 words worth of notes on this fic, so we're going to be here a while. I'm also redoing all the confidants from scratch given Akira already knows who to target to improve the lives of his friends, and I'm letting you guys choose who we get to interact with when we get to it! I'll keep track of who's on what rank as we progress, don't worry. It's mostly going to stick to canon for the most part until we meet Akechi in June, and that's when the fun begins. :D
> 
> Also special shout out to mango4567 on tumblr for making a post with a STARTLINGLY SIMILAR IDEA waaay back when this fic was just a collection of notes in my writing app that you can find [ here](https://mango4567.tumblr.com/post/621675088944726016/just-wanted-to-clarify-when-i-said-i-think)


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